With a wind chill of 25°, marchers walked up Woodland Avenue towards 70th Street. It was Martin Luther King Jr. Day and family, friends, police and community members were there to honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the beloved Paul “Earthquake” Moore, the late Southwest community activist.
Moore held an annual March along Woodland Avenue for more than 20 years prior to his death on Martin Luther King Jr’s. actual birthday, January 15 in 2021 after a battle with cancer.
The March replicated the March on Washington DC for Jobs and Freedom in August 1963. It was then that Martin Luther King Jr. made his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which is celebrated as one of the best speeches in the 20th century. At the time, there was a rapidly growing tide of support and outrage over the nation’s racial inequities. More than 260,000 people from across the nation attended the March.
Moore was a busy community activist. He was a minister at New Fellowship Baptist Church, served on the 12th Police District Clergy and was board chair at Southwest CDC. Moore had others donate turkeys so he could get them to families in need for Thanksgiving. He held mini Boot Camps for children to teach children to respect others and stay away from criminal activity. Paul served in the PA National Guard for 27 years with 2 years of active duty. He was the winner of the Wrice-Campbell Award for Neighborhood Safety 2011.
